THE radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri faces spending the rest of his life in jail after the United States sought his extradition on terrorism charges yesterday.

Shortly after the 47-year-old was arrested in an armed raid on his West London home, John Ashcroft, the US Attorney-General, went on television to announce that the cleric would face 11 charges, including kidnapping and plotting to set up al-Qaeda training camps.

The Egyptian-born militant, who lost an eye and his hands in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, was in the top-security Belmarsh prison, southeast London, last night at the start of what Home Office officials believe could be a long legal battle. He had looked sullen as a long catalogue of charges was read out in Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court.

At the same time in New York, Mr Ashcroft was saying that the FBI wanted to question him over his part in the kidnapping of tourists in Yemen in December 1998, in which four holidaymakers died.

He described how Abu Hamza used his mosque in Finsbury Park, North London, to funnel money to al-Qaeda and the Taleban in Afghanistan and sent recruits to terrorist training camps. Mr Ashcroft also claimed that some of the cleric’s followers had tried to set up a “violent jihad training camp” on an Oregon farm.

Mr Ashcroft praised the British authorities for their help. He said that the cleric could face the death penalty, although American officials reassured the Home Office that they would adhere to an agreement that no one extradited to the US would face capital punishment. Mr Ashcroft said that the charges also carry a 100-year jail sentence.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, had known for months of the US attempt to bring the case. He said last night: “It is a judicial process and I have got to be very careful not to interfere with that, but everyone who has been concerned about this man will want us to get it right.”

The Home Office said last night that it would continue with an attempt to strip Abu Hamza of his citizenship while he fights extradition. Several MPs have asked why Scotland Yard had not tried to prosecute Abu Hamza here. He denies any links with terrorism.

It is understood that much of the evidence presented by the FBI may not be admissible in a British court.

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